How to Shampoo

You would think that everyone knows How to Shampoo their hair. Yet shampooing improperly causes a variety of problems that are easily avoided! Continuing reading for tips on How to Shampoo your hair. If you're already shampooing your hair properly and your hair isn't quite as healthy as you would like it to be, then it's time to look to your hair products and think about changing them. Visit our What is the Best Shampoo page to learn more.

Steps and Tips on How to Shampoo your hair:

Start with warm water, not hot water.
Saturate you hair with water so it is thoroughly wet. This thorough wetting of the hair is important because the thorough wetting helps to moves the things you don't want in and on your hair, to the surface of the hair shaft.
Apply a small amount of shampoo into the palm of you hands .
Add a little water and rub your hands together (usually what is already on you hands is enough) to spread the shampoo around covering both hands. This both emulsifies the shampoo, reduces the concentration, and increases the area of application prior to application so the shampoo is more evenly spread throughout the hair.
Apply the shampoo to the wet hair and work into a lather. Using the cushion tips of your fingers, gently massage the hair and scalp. Be particularly careful not to scratch your scalp with your fingernails
Rinse your hair thoroughly. This removes all the unwanted product, build-up, pollution and other yucky things from your hair.
Repeat shampooing (steps 1 to 6) using about half the shampoo you needed for the first application
Apply a small amount of conditioner into the palm of your hands.
Rub hands together to emulsify the conditioner and reduce the concentration. This also increases the area of application so the conditioner is more evenly spread throughout the hair.
Apply conditioner evenly to hair and scalp.
Allow to set 3 to 5 minutes.
Rinse thoroughly.
Scalp Build-up: lucky 13 if you have build up on your hair or scalp see our Homemade Treatment Build-Up on Hair or Scalp

Thoughts and Habits to Avoid While Shampooing

Hot Water
Hot water can damaged your scalp and cause dandruff. People who use too hot of water generally fall into two categories.
Seasonal Hot Water Users: When the seasons change and people are trying to use the shower water temperature to warm up their bathroom. Finding the shower too hot for their skin, they stick their head under the water to protect their skin. Resulting in a scalded scalp with flaking/dandruff.
Hot Water Lovers: When someone just stubbornly loves hot water, they can scald their skin and hair. If you have both dandruff and dry skin or have dandruff and are using a lot of skin moisturizers, hot water temperature could be your problem.
Tepid Water: Tepid - means not-hot and not-cold ... as felt on the inside of your arm between the wrist and elbow, while the shower is running. Tepid is the safest water temperature when shampooing.

Scalp Scratching
Some people who have dandruff think that if they scratch at their scalp, it will help remove the dandruff. This is not true. When you scratch your scalp, your fingernails are digging into your scalp which causes damage to the skin. The resulting damage is what you call dandruff. By scratching your scalp with your fingernails, brush or comb, you can create or perpetuate your dandruff. Instead of scratching, use the cushion tips of your fingers to massage your scalp and avoid making your own dandruff.

Skipping the Conditioner
Some people think that shampooing their hair is enough and they don't need to use a conditioner on their hair. This idea is false! The shampoo removes the wanted AND the unwanted materials from your hair. In movie terms it removes "The Good ,The Bad, & the Ugly." For this reason, you need a good conditioner to replenish all of the naturally good stuff your hair contains to keep your hair healthy. Yes conditioners are made to put back only "The Good." This is especially true if you chemically treat your hair, heat style your hair, or directly damage your hair in any other way. You must use a shampoo and conditioner to achieve and maintain the beautiful, luxurious hair you have, or want to have.

All Shampoos Are the Same
All shampoos are NOT the same! They are all very, very different. Shampoos vary in concentration, pH (measure of acidity or alkalinity), and percentage of as well as type of cleansing ingredients, plus of course fragrance. If you love getting your hair shampooed at the salon and love the way your hair looks after a cut or style, a large part of that has to do with the quality of shampoo and conditioner your stylist is using on your hair. You don't have to spend a fortune on great, salon quality hair products, but you're not going to find them in the aisles of your grocery store.

Choosing a Shampoo Based on Smell
If your hair doesn't look as great as you want it too, you probably need to find a new shampoo. If you pick your shampoo solely based on how it smells, you're probably not getting to proper type of hair care for your hair's needs. The fragrance in shampoo is only for the benefit of your nose, not your hair. If you like the fragrance of your current shampoo but your hair isn't looking as good as it could, find another shampoo that does work for your hair's needs. If it doesn't smell like you want it to, there are lots of great smelling finishing products, like glossing mists, that smell fantastic. If, on occasion, you don't have time to shampoo visit our How to keep Hair Smelling Fresh page to learn more.